"(F)or the third year in a row, Obama has waived almost all U.S.
sanctions that would punish certain countries that use child soldiers,
upsetting many in the human rights community," Foreign Policy magazine reports.

"Late Friday afternoon, Obama issued a presidential memorandum
waiving penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 for
Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen, penalties that Congress put in place to
prevent U.S. arms sales to countries determined by the State Department
to be the worst abusers of child soldiers in their militaries. The
president also partially waived sanctions against the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to allow some military training and arms sales to
that country."

"After such a strong statement against the
exploitation of children, it seems bizarre that Obama would give a pass
to countries using children in their armed forces and using U.S. tax
money to do that," Jesse Eaves, the senior policy advisor for child protection at World Vision, tells FP.

Obama's
decision to arm child kidnappers undermines the work of the
international community, which has been working to disarm and arrest
warlords who kidnap and force children to fight to the death -- using
weapons supplied by Barack Obama.